Quotations of the day

“I don’t want to call them doomsdayers, but people get on these blogs on the Internet and they drive people’s fears. They do not want to wait around and see.” — Hans Farnung, a gun retailer in Rochester, N.Y., on how the stockpiling of ammunition has been fueled by false online rumors of an impending tax on each bullet.

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“You can’t change history, but you can take steps to right the wrongs of the past. The fact that this passed unanimously shows that today’s 21st century Alabama is far removed from the one that caused such pain for so many so long ago.” — Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard, a Republican, after lawmakers voted to allow posthumous pardons for the “Scottsboro Boys”: nine black teens who were wrongly convicted of raping two white women more than 80 years ago.

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“Roger loved movies. They were his life. His reviews went far deeper than simply thumbs up or thumbs down. He wrote with passion through a real knowledge of film and film history, and in doing so, helped many movies find their audiences.” — Director Steven Spielberg on the death of iconic film critic Roger Ebert at age 70.